Atheist Exile's Blog – August 2011 Archive (3)

I received (elsewhere) a reply to a post in which I provided a Pat Condell video and transcript which had nothing to do with the "Palestinian Problem". I received the following reply (edited for grammar):

I also was subscribed to Pat Condell’s YouTube channel but just was shocked and couldn’t agree with his views on Israel. I really don't see how anyone who often goes on about human rights can talk as if Israel can do no wrong – AND he gets the real news on the matter…

If God provided proof that he exists, then it would be logical to believe in him. The absence of proof leaves only faith for belief. You do not need faith if you have proof and vice versa. By God’s own choice, he can only be known by faith.

But why have faith in this particular God? If God won’t give us proof, what’s to stop us from believing in Allah or Zeus? To have faith is to deny logic. What alternative is there to logic? How do we think? Mindlessness is the absence…

Google Plus (Google+) stirred up a controversy by deleting, wholesale, accounts created under pseudonyms instead of under real names. Google+ acknowledged their mistakes and is now formulating an official policy for naming conventions on their new social network.

There are legitimate reasons that users might need to use pseudonyms. The most obvious and crucial one is anonymity for political dissidents and social activists. Without that anonymity, activism can be too dangerous to…